Jardy, ? Excellent point. When I hike the mountains near my home, I can see the cell plus repeater towers and see Phoenix below. Yet cell coverage is spotty because the providers are beaming their energy off of the mountain, not to the mountain. Having an FT-60 for emergency communications could save the day as long as the repeaters do not have the same radiation pattern. ? By the way, quick rescue around here is absolutely critical. In the summer during the heat of the day, if a person runs out of water, they can be dead in 20 minutes. Happens far too often L ? Thanks, ? Rick ?
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From: FT-60@... [mailto:FT-60@...]
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2014 9:33 PM
To: FT-60@...
Subject: Re: [FT-60] general question? ? Search and Rescue and Emergency Communications; | | | |
2013 - CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF SERVICE Silver Star Search & Rescue is a non-profit organizati... | | | Preview by Yahoo | | | | | | | |
Jardy Dawson
WA7JRD Ham Radio
Sent by hurling dead pigeons over the wall by trebuche. ? ? I have been around hams all of my life. Growing up, two houses down was a ham. My brother-in-law has been a ham since he was in high school so my wife actually picked up a lot of information from him. I studied analog circuit design and RF in college. So I understand some of the technical aspects of being a ham. What I do not fully understand is what motivates people to be hams. I know each person probably has a different reason from survivalist to helping out in an emergency to social. My immediate motivation is because some of my students are required to get their license in order to operate APRS during weather balloon flights ( ). It was getting embarrassing to tell them that I didn’t have my license. So what makes you guys “tick”? What got you interested in being a ham? I do hope my question does not offend anyone. That was not my intent. ?
|
Re: FT-60R $174.95 at HRO!
Gil, ? Ah, you answered a few questions that were puzzling me. So you are told test results immediately and the FCC posts your call sign within a few weeks. Nice to know. ? Thanks, ? Rick ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: FT-60@... [mailto:FT-60@...]
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2014 8:09 AM
To: FT-60@...
Subject: [FT-60] Re: FT-60R $174.95 at HRO!? ? I will second the vote for gigaparts -- I got my FT60 there, and they were fast and on the ball. I also second the recommendation to take more than just your tech test, as it costs nothing more that day. ?I studied for my tech until I was hitting good scores, and studied a bit of the general just before going for the test. ?First test I had taken in 30 years. ?I got 100% on the tech, so they asked me if I wanted to take the general. ?I had nothing to lose so I did. ?I got 100% on it so they asked me if I wanted to take the extra. ?Now I had not even peeked at any extra questions, but I am also an EE so I figured I had a shot. ?Did not do as well on the extra test. ?Only got 87%. ?But they said that was good enough, and a week or so later I was AF7EZ. ?So try them all, you have nothing to lose but a few more minutes.
|
Re: FT-60R $174.95 at HRO!
Mike, ? May I be able to tell the same story next week! ? Rick ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: FT-60@... [mailto:FT-60@...]
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2014 9:06 PM
To: FT-60@...
Subject: RE: [FT-60] Re: FT-60R $174.95 at HRO!? ? Rick,
That is what I did.? I studied on the Internet (the free exams) for a week until I could not fail any of the exams.? Then, just a week before I was going to take the Technician exam, a friend of mine who has an extra license told me to go ahead and study for the General exam and take that, too.? I never thought of doing that.? I studied another half a week and took the practice exams on the Internet.? I found that the questions were not any more difficult than the Technician questions.
Then I went to the exam site and took the Technician exam.? I passed, but they did not tell me how I did other than passing.? They asked if I wanted to take the General exam and I said, "Yes".? Then I took that and passed it, too.? Again, they did not tell me which, if any, questions I missed.
Then the unexpected happened... They told me I HAD to go for the "Triple Crown".? Somehow, I let them talk me into taking the Extra exam.? I told them I had no chance at all of passing it as I had never even seen the questions, besides taken any practice exams.? And, I have no background in electronics.? But they would not take "no" for an answer.? What the heck, it was free to take the test.? So I did.? Of course, I failed it (miserably I presume).? But it was fun anyway.
In the end, I walked in with no license and walked out knowing I had qualified for my General ticket.? It was a good feeling of accomplishment.
Go for it!
- Mike
? KK6FCQ
At 05:48 AM 6/5/2014, 'Rick - yahoo' rgsparber.ya@... [FT-60] wrote: ?
Tom,
?
Excellent suggestion. I'll do it!
?
Thanks,
?
Rick
?
From: FT-60@... [ mailto:FT-60@...]
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2014 7:05 PM
To: FT-60@...
Subject: Re: [FT-60] Re: FT-60R $174.95 at HRO!
Take the General Test on the same day right after you take the Tech exam. A lot of the questions are the same and you have a good chance of passing the General. The you can work HF too.
?
Tom
K3CD
?----- Original Message ----- From: rgsparber.ya@... [FT-60] To: FT-60@... Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2014 11:23 PM Subject: RE: [FT-60] Re: FT-60R $174.95 at HRO! ? I am new to the group and, in fact, don't have my license yet. I take the Technician's test in 8 days. I've been studying with HamTestOnline and found it an excellent learning experience. I'm a retired electrical engineer so at those parts of the test will be easy. After I receive my call letters, I plan to buy my first radio. ?
?
|
I think you are saying to transmit unmodulated carrier for silence and a tone which would shift the transmitted frequency from the unmodulated value. It is my understanding that CW would represent no tone as no carrier. So the two methods should sound the same at the receiver but would have different RF signatures. I read () ?that the needed bandwidth for cw is less than 100 Hz and ideally the bandwidth is zero because the carrier is just being turned on and off. ? If I fed in a 1 KHz tone into my FT-60 to generate a dot or dash and fed in nothing for silence, then the bandwidth would be 2 KHz for FM or 1 KHz for SSB. Is that right? ? Am I all wet here? ? Thanks, ? Rick ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: FT-60@... [mailto:FT-60@...]
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2014 12:51 AM
To: FT-60@...
Subject: RE: [FT-60] just to verify? ? It's an FM rig. If you want to send cw, like as in a beacon, use the audio input with a tone.
From: FT-60@...
To: FT-60@...
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2014 12:15:25 -0700
Subject: [FT-60] just to verify
? ? I carefully read over the table of contents of the FT-60’s user manual and found nothing about connecting a key in order to transmit CW. Am I missing something? ? Thanks, ? Rick ?
|
Hmmm!!! ?I'll have to think about that. ?But, if the were alive, they could just fly on their own instead of needing to be hurled... Jardy Dawson WA7JRD Ham Radio
Sent by underground messengers via the worm people.
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Show quoted text
On Jun 5, 2014, at 23:59, "Dave Jeffries radioranger44@... [FT-60]" < FT-60@...> wrote:
?
If ya hurl them over the wall while they're still alive they might come back with the return message..............
?
Search and Rescue and Emergency Communications; ? ? | | | | 2013 - CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF SERVICE Silver Star Search & Rescue is a non-profit organizati... | | | Preview by Yahoo | |
? ? ? Jardy Dawson WA7JRD Ham
Radio Sent by hurling dead pigeons over the wall by trebuche.
?
I have been around hams all of my life. Growing up, two houses down was a ham. My brother-in-law has been a ham since he was in high school so my wife actually picked up a lot of information from him. I studied analog circuit design and RF in college. So I understand some of the technical aspects of being a ham. ? What I do not fully understand is what motivates people to be hams. I know each person probably has a different reason from survivalist to helping out in an emergency to social. ? My immediate motivation is
because some of my students are required to get their license in order to operate APRS during weather balloon flights ( ). It was getting embarrassing to tell them that I didn’t have my license. ? So what makes you guys “tick”? What got you interested in being a ham? ? I do hope my question does not offend anyone. That was not my intent. ? Thanks, ? Rick
|
It's an FM rig. If you want to send cw, like as in a beacon, use the audio input with a tone.
From: FT-60@... To: FT-60@... Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2014 12:15:25 -0700 Subject: [FT-60] just to verify
?
I carefully read over the table of contents of the FT-60’s user manual and found nothing about connecting a key in order to transmit CW. Am I missing something? ? Thanks, ? Rick
|
Re: FT-60R $174.95 at HRO!
$125.00 at AES but they were on sale.
Dave J =======================
From: "nismo4511@... [FT-60]"
To: FT-60@...
Sent: Thursday, June 5, 2014 3:37 AM
Subject: RE: [FT-60] Re: FT-60R $174.95 at HRO!
?
I paid 169$ for mine from HRO not much diffrence but the math is easy. shop around ~stev
|
If ya hurl them over the wall while they're still alive they might come back with the return message..............
From: "Jardy Dawson JARDY72@... [FT-60]"
To: "FT-60@..."
Sent:
Thursday, June 5, 2014 10:32 PM
Subject: Re: [FT-60] general question
?
Search and Rescue and Emergency Communications; ? ? | | | | 2013 - CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF SERVICE Silver Star Search & Rescue is a non-profit organizati... | | | Preview by Yahoo | |
? ? ? Jardy Dawson WA7JRD Ham
Radio Sent by hurling dead pigeons over the wall by trebuche.
From: "'Rick - yahoo' rgsparber.ya@... [FT-60]"
To: FT-60@...
Sent: Thursday, June 5, 2014 6:59 AM
Subject: [FT-60] general question
?
I have been around hams all of my life. Growing up, two houses down was a ham. My brother-in-law has been a ham since he was in high school so my wife actually picked up a lot of information from him. I studied analog circuit design and RF in college. So I understand some of the technical aspects of being a ham. ? What I do not fully understand is what motivates people to be hams. I know each person probably has a different reason from survivalist to helping out in an emergency to social. ? My immediate motivation is
because some of my students are required to get their license in order to operate APRS during weather balloon flights ( ). It was getting embarrassing to tell them that I didn’t have my license. ? So what makes you guys “tick”? What got you interested in being a ham? ? I do hope my question does not offend anyone. That was not my intent. ? Thanks, ? Rick
|
I'd been in CAP radio communications since 1958. ? ?Built power supplies to run WWII surplus radios, ?Built and aligned SSB transceivers. ?Modified part 95 sets for CAP use. ?etc etc. ?In 1980 I had some CAP cadets who wanted to learn more about radio so I was taking them across town to the HAM club's novice classes. ?Well since I had to be there (for the Cadets) I figured I might as well pay attention. ?We all took the tests (Code and written) and passed. As soon as I got my license in the mail i went over to the FCC office in New Orleans and wrote the general test to get my technician license. ?
?Never looked back. ??
Now my main interest is in public service comms, ?runs, walks, bike races, weather spotting, MARS radio, etc.
Dave J ? ?N0GMP // AFA8CI (AFMARS) // Grasslands44
(CAP)
From: "'Rick - yahoo' rgsparber.ya@... [FT-60]"
To: FT-60@...
Sent: Thursday, June 5, 2014 7:59 AM
Subject: [FT-60] general question
?
I have been around hams all of my life. Growing up, two houses down was a ham. My brother-in-law has been a ham since he was in high school so my wife actually picked up a lot of information from him. I studied analog circuit design and RF in college. So I understand some of the technical aspects of being a ham. ? What I do not fully understand is what motivates people to be hams. I know each person probably has a different reason from survivalist to helping out in an emergency to social. ? My immediate motivation
is because some of my students are required to get their license in order to operate APRS during weather balloon flights ( ). It was getting embarrassing to tell them that I didn’t have my license. ? So what makes you guys “tick”? What got you interested in being a ham? ? I do hope my question does not offend anyone. That was not my intent. ? Thanks, ? Rick
|
I'm a third generation ham. ?Grandfather: WA5EIT (silent key). ?Father: W5JE (formerly W5MDP). ?Me: W5EIT (formerly WB5HHM). ?Being a ham was just part of growing up! ?I got my first ticket just after I turned 13.
- Larry W5EIT
On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 9:25 AM, bartenderjim2002@... [FT-60] <FT-60@...> wrote:
?
My?motivation was my twin brother (KC0JPO)?has been? ham for as long as I can remember. In 2010 he started talking to me about it, sent the Gordon West Tech book and convinced me to at least?try. Once I studied for about 30 days I passed my Tech, he?bought me a mobile setup, then sent me a Kenwood 430. I built an antenna and my first contact was Japan from San Diego. I was hooked. I?now have my General and am?working on building an antenna to finally chat with my brother in Denver.?I guess my motivation is personal/social.
JamesM. KJ6FXA
|
My?motivation was my twin brother (KC0JPO)?has been? ham for as long as I can remember. In 2010 he started talking to me about it, sent the Gordon West Tech book and convinced me to at least?try. Once I studied for about 30 days I passed my Tech, he?bought me a mobile setup, then sent me a Kenwood 430. I built an antenna and my first contact was Japan from San Diego. I was hooked. I?now have my General and am?working on building an antenna to finally chat with my brother in Denver.?I guess my motivation is personal/social.
JamesM. KJ6FXA
|
Rick,
I got my ticket primarily to use the radio for emergency communications
when we travel.? My wife and I took a 4-day trip thru northern CA a
year ago and I realized that most of the trip we had NO cell phone
coverage.? In the event of a breakdown, we had no comms.? We
were on back roads, which is also the way we like to travel all over on
our touring motorcycle.? Since there are repeaters everywhere, I
figured that a ham radio would be the way to go.
I have to admit that I have little to no experience yet.? With a
home sale and move out of state, among other things, I have not had the
time to get my feet wet.? I, too, need to seek out an Elmer for some
helpful advice.
Hey, I'm retired and in the Phoenix area, too.? Where is this
"antenna farm" that you referred to?
- Mike
At 06:59 AM 6/5/2014, 'Rick - yahoo' rgsparber.ya@... [FT-60]
wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
?
I have been around hams all of my life. Growing up, two houses down was a
ham. My brother-in-law has been a ham since he was in high school so my
wife actually picked up a lot of information from him. I studied analog
circuit design and RF in college. So I understand some of the technical
aspects of being a ham.
?
What I do not fully understand is what motivates people to be hams. I
know each person probably has a different reason from survivalist to
helping out in an emergency to social.
?
My immediate motivation is because some of my students are required to
get their license in order to operate APRS during weather balloon flights
( ). It was
getting embarrassing to tell them that I didn?t have my license.
?
So what makes you guys ?tick?? What got you interested in being a
ham?
?
I do hope my question does not offend anyone. That was not my
intent.
?
Thanks,
?
Rick
Posted by: "Rick - yahoo"
|
Search and Rescue and Emergency Communications; ? ? | | | | 2013 - CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF SERVICE Silver Star Search & Rescue is a non-profit organizati... | | | Preview by Yahoo | |
? ? ? Jardy Dawson
WA7JRD Ham
Radio
Sent by hurling dead pigeons over the wall by trebuche.
From: "'Rick - yahoo' rgsparber.ya@... [FT-60]"
To: FT-60@...
Sent: Thursday, June 5, 2014 6:59 AM
Subject: [FT-60] general question
?
I have been around hams all of my life. Growing up, two houses down was a ham. My brother-in-law has been a ham since he was in high school so my wife actually picked up a lot of information from him. I studied analog circuit design and RF in college. So I understand some of the technical aspects of being a ham. ? What I do not fully understand is what motivates people to be hams. I know each person probably has a different reason from survivalist to helping out in an emergency to social. ? My immediate motivation is
because some of my students are required to get their license in order to operate APRS during weather balloon flights ( ). It was getting embarrassing to tell them that I didn’t have my license. ? So what makes you guys “tick”? What got you interested in being a ham? ? I do hope my question does not offend anyone. That was not my intent. ? Thanks, ? Rick
|
Re: FT-60R $174.95 at HRO!
Rick,
That is what I did.? I studied on the Internet (the free exams) for
a week until I could not fail any of the exams.? Then, just a week
before I was going to take the Technician exam, a friend of mine who has
an extra license told me to go ahead and study for the General exam and
take that, too.? I never thought of doing that.? I studied
another half a week and took the practice exams on the Internet.? I
found that the questions were not any more difficult than the Technician
questions.
Then I went to the exam site and took the Technician exam.? I
passed, but they did not tell me how I did other than passing.? They
asked if I wanted to take the General exam and I said,
"Yes".? Then I took that and passed it, too.? Again,
they did not tell me which, if any, questions I missed.
Then the unexpected happened... They told me I HAD to go for the
"Triple Crown".? Somehow, I let them talk me into taking
the Extra exam.? I told them I had no chance at all of passing it as
I had never even seen the questions, besides taken any practice
exams.? And, I have no background in electronics.? But they
would not take "no" for an answer.? What the heck, it was
free to take the test.? So I did.? Of course, I failed it
(miserably I presume).? But it was fun anyway.
In the end, I walked in with no license and walked out knowing I had
qualified for my General ticket.? It was a good feeling of
accomplishment.
Go for it!
- Mike
? KK6FCQ
At 05:48 AM 6/5/2014, 'Rick - yahoo' rgsparber.ya@... [FT-60]
wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
?
Tom,
?
Excellent suggestion. I'll do it!
?
Thanks,
?
Rick
?
From: FT-60@...
[
mailto:FT-60@...]
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2014 7:05 PM
To: FT-60@...
Subject: Re: [FT-60] Re: FT-60R $174.95 at HRO!
Take the General Test on the same day right after you take the Tech exam.
A lot of the questions are the same and you have a good chance of passing
the General. The you can work HF too.
?
Tom
K3CD
?----- Original Message -----
- From:
rgsparber.ya@...
[FT-60]
- To:
FT-60@...
- Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2014 11:23 PM
- Subject: RE: [FT-60] Re: FT-60R $174.95 at HRO!
- ?
- I am new to the group and, in fact, don't have my license yet. I take
the Technician's test in 8 days. I've been studying with HamTestOnline
and found it an excellent learning experience. I'm a retired electrical
engineer so at those parts of the test will be easy. After I receive my
call letters, I plan to buy my first radio.
- ?
|
Well, I thought that this issue was
licked.? But actually no.? One of those nasty illusive bugs that
require a solid failure to find.?
Occasionally my FT60 would either not turn on, or would turn on
with garbage on the display.? Recently I dropped it onto a hard
surface.. and it would no longer turn on at all.
Time to fix.
And I found the issue:
x1001 the 4MHz crystal has a very very fine trace that leads to a
via (the pad near R174).? It had broken.
I removed the crystal, fixed the circuit board, replaced the
crystal, and now my radio is solid as a rock!
Took hours of tracing and troubleshooting, but this time I got it!
/K1MGY
On 03/26/2014 08:58, Mark Richards wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
?
For quite some time my FT60R has been suffering from
intermittent
failure to boot. The symptoms are:
- turn on and no display, or
- turn on and scrambled display, or
- turn on and scrambled display and a tone
This sometimes happens after a charge cycle, but this is
not consistent
enough to be a possible cause. Today, it was on and
running and later I
noticed the display was blank and power-switch off and on
would not "boot".
It was suggested I check the battery connections. These
have been
cleaned and the battery checked. This is not the issue.
Attempted these remedies:
- clean battery contacts
- check battery
- small amount of contact cleaner into power switch
- dis-assembly and re-assembly
- operation without case screws (upper, black); theory:
compression
causing intermittent connection
Almost always, dis-assembly "solves" the issue. With the
outer case
removed and holding the battery in place, the thing powers
up.
Now, I am going deeper, and have removed the VR unit. I
note that it is
connected to the main PCB through a contact strip and held
to this with
quite a lot of compression provided by two screws. These
were very
tight on removal, so they are believe to be just fine.
Since the unit sometimes starts to boot and fails, I am
wondering if
there's a power-up sequence issue here. I note that,
across the power
switch (VR2001/SW) there's a capacitor C2003. Its value is
not marked
and is nowhere to be found. I might assume this is to
protect the
switch. There's no R-C involved. Does anyone know what
value is
expected here?
My next step is to touch up solder joints on switch
assembly, clean
contacts with an eraser, squirt a little contact
cleaner/lube into the
switch, and re-assemble.
I see C1119 (0.18uf) and R1147 (68k) is used as a cheap
reset.. so maybe
this is where the issue lies?
Any other ideas from the experts here?
|
Re: FT-60R $174.95 at HRO!
Got mine for $155 on Amazon. Now they're $172. They're going fast. Get one while you can. The thing is a beast, but it's a solid radio.
|
Re: FT-60R $174.95 at HRO!
R&L electronics:? FT-60?? $149.95 + free shipping.? I have purchased most of my equipment from them. They are prompt, courteous, and knowledgeable. ?
| | | | | | YAESU FT60R, FT-60R , 2m/70cm 5W with WIDE RECEIVE | | | | Preview by Yahoo | | | ? KD8UCA
|
I carefully read over the table of contents of the FT-60’s user manual and found nothing about connecting a key in order to transmit CW. Am I missing something? ? Thanks, ? Rick
|
Re: FT-60R $174.95 at HRO!
de Rich/AG6QR, ? I assume that you find out how you did on the test shortly after you turn it in. By all means, I will take tests until I fail. My first try at General wasn’t stellar but I did pass. I do plan to take a few more tests before test day. I feel very comfortable with the technician test. On the general test, I got one question wrong related to peak inverse voltage of a diode. I was just confused by the strange wording. I’ve designed a few power supplies so certainly know about PIV. ? Peace, ? Rick ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: FT-60@... [mailto:FT-60@...]
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2014 11:29 AM
To: FT-60@...
Subject: [FT-60] Re: FT-60R $174.95 at HRO!? ? HRO is good, and I've dealt with them quite a bit, both in person and online, but I suspect most of the other places are good, too. ? If you're a retired electrical engineer, then you probably have much of the background required for the General and Extra class licenses.? You may want to take a practice exam or two for general and extra before exam day.? ? As far as your advance preparation, do what you feel comfortable doing.? Obviously,?the important thing is?to pass the technician test first, so don't let the General and Extra distract from that.? But if you're confident about the technician exam,?consider preparing for the?others.? Regardless of your preparation, on exam day, keep taking tests until you fail one or until you've passed all three.? It is possible to walk into the session with no license and walk out with an Extra (ok, you don't literally walk out with the Extra license, you have to wait for the FCC to put it into their database, but...) ? As long as you're there, there is NO reason turn down an opportunity to take the General, and if you pass that, there's no reason to avoid the Extra exam.? The worst outcome is that you'll fail, and have a better idea of what material you'll need to study.? But nobody will hold that failure against you. ? Good luck and 73 de Rich/AG6QR
|
Re: FT-60R $174.95 at HRO!
HRO is good, and I've dealt with them quite a bit, both in person and online, but I suspect most of the other places are good, too. ? If you're a retired electrical engineer, then you probably have much of the background required for the General and Extra class licenses.? You may want to take a practice exam or two for general and extra before exam day.? ? As far as your advance preparation, do what you feel comfortable doing.? Obviously,?the important thing is?to pass the technician test first, so don't let the General and Extra distract from that.? But if you're confident about the technician exam,?consider preparing for the?others.? Regardless of your preparation, on exam day, keep taking tests until you fail one or until you've passed all three.? It is possible to walk into the session with no license and walk out with an Extra (ok, you don't literally walk out with the Extra license, you have to wait for the FCC to put it into their database, but...) ? As long as you're there, there is NO reason turn down an opportunity to take the General, and if you pass that, there's no reason to avoid the Extra exam.? The worst outcome is that you'll fail, and have a better idea of what material you'll need to study.? But nobody will hold that failure against you. ? Good luck and 73 de Rich/AG6QR
|
Dave Jeffries AF0DJ
bartenderjim